Exodus 3:18
And they shall hear thy voice: and thou shalt go in, thou and the ancients of Israel, to the king of Egypt, and thou shalt say to him: The Lord God of the Hebrews hath called us: we will go three days' journey into the wilderness, to sacrifice unto the Lord our God.
Open Exodus 3:18 in the Motif Searcher, word by word across all five texts →Show on the spiral →The verse in its languages
- Vulgate (Clementine)
- Et audient vocem tuam : ingredierisque tu, et seniores Israël, ad regem Ægypti, et dices ad eum : Dominus Deus Hebræorum vocavit nos : ibimus viam trium dierum in solitudinem, ut immolemus Domino Deo nostro.
- Septuagint (Swete)
- καὶ εἰσακούσονταί σου τῆς φωνῆς· καὶ εἰσελεύσῃ σὺ καὶ ἡ γερουσία Ἰσραὴλ πρὸς Φαραὼ βασιλέα Αἰγύπτου, καὶ ἐρεῖς πρὸς αὐτόν Ὁ θεὸς τῶν Ἐβραίων προσκέκληται ἡμᾶς· πορευσώμεθα οὖν ὁδὸν τριῶν ἡμερῶν εἰς τὴν ἔρημον, ἵνα θύσωμεν τῷ θεῷ ἡμῶν.
- Hebrew (WLC)
- וְשָׁמְע֖וּ לְקֹלֶ֑ךָ וּבָאתָ֡ אַתָּה֩ וְזִקְנֵ֨י יִשְׂרָאֵ֜ל אֶל מֶ֣לֶךְ מִצְרַ֗יִם וַאֲמַרְתֶּ֤ם אֵלָיו֙ יְהוָ֞ה אֱלֹהֵ֤י הָֽעִבְרִיִּים֙ נִקְרָ֣ה עָלֵ֔ינוּ וְעַתָּ֗ה נֵֽלֲכָה נָּ֞א דֶּ֣רֶךְ שְׁלֹ֤שֶׁת יָמִים֙ בַּמִּדְבָּ֔ר וְנִזְבְּחָ֖ה לַֽיהוָ֥ה אֱלֹהֵֽינוּ
Haydock's commentary
Called. Samaritan and Septuagint, "hath been invoked upon us." Hebrew, "hath occurred or appeared to us." (Haydock)
Journey, to Sinai, which was about this distance, to go straight. But the Israelites spent 48 days in arriving at it by a circuitous road. (Calmet)
In Hebrew they ask, "Let us go, we beseech thee." They do not tell a lie, but withhold the truth. (Menochius)
From Haydock's Catholic Bible Commentary, 1859, in the transcription made by Todd Easton and kept online by John Paul Wohlschied at johnblood.gitlab.io/haydock.
The Fathers on this verse
Clement of Alexandria The Instructor, Chapter IX. That It is the Prerogative of the Same Power to Be Beneficent and to Punish Justly. Also the Manner of the Instruction of the Logos
Admonition, then, is the censure of loving care, and produces understanding. Such is the Instructor in His admonitions, as when He says in the Gospel, “How often would I have gathered thy children, as a bird gathers her young ones under her wings, and ye would not!” And again, the Scripture admonishes, saying, “And they committed adultery with stock and stone, and burnt incense to Baal.” For it is a very great proof of His love, that, though knowing well the shamelessness of the people that had kicked and bounded away, He notwithstanding exhorts them to repentance, and says by Ezekiel, “Son of man, thou dwellest in the midst of scorpions; nevertheless, speak to them, if peradventure they will hear.” Further, to Moses He says, “Go and tell Pharaoh to send My people forth; but I know that he will not send them forth.” For He shows both things: both His divinity in His foreknowledge of what …